Report from Miami Art Fairs

The view of the Atlantic Ocean from SCOPE Art Fair 2017

The view of the Atlantic Ocean from SCOPE Art Fair 2017

It may snow along the East Coast this weekend, but down at Art Basel Miami Beach, it was all sunshine and beach parties and artwork and music everywhere. A fun thing about Miami is you get to spend hours in Lyfts and cabs going across causeways to and from the beach exhibits. context.art.fair.miami.2017.alida_anderson

Washington Glass School artists were represented at a number of the incredible art fairs that took place during Art Basel / Miami Art Fair week.

Erwin Timmers new work was dazzling!

Erwin Timmers new work was dazzling!

At Context Art Miami – Alida Anderson Art Project showed artists Erwin Timmers, Laura Beth Konopinski and Audrey Wilson.

Audrey Wilson and Laura Beth Konopinski at Context

Audrey Wilson and Laura Beth Konopinski at Context

Congrats to our own Laura Beth Konopinski, who was selected by Julian Navarro, the fair director as one of the standout women artists at the fair!

Tim Tate's works shone brightly at SCOPE Miami

Tim Tate’s works shone brightly at SCOPE Miami

Tim Tate and Michael Janis were featured by Habatat Galleries at two art fairs – SCOPE Miami and Form Art Fair. Tim’s new wall pieces were a hit at SCOPE – with many reacting to the artwork’s content.jennifer.scanlan.scope.tim_tate.glass.miami.art.fair

Tim's work was the most photo'd works at Miami Beach.

Tim’s work was the most photo’d works at Miami Beach.

The newest art fair “Form” opened across the street from Art Basel. Run by the same group that presents SOFA Chicago, the artwork focused on media specific art.

Michael Janis' work at Habatat Galleries space at the FORM Art Fair.

Michael Janis’ work at Habatat Galleries space at the FORM Art Fair.

There was alot of glitz and glamour and celebrity-sightings during the week.

Artist Chuck Close came thru the show.

Artist Chuck Close came thru the show.

As did these glitterati.

As did these glitterati.

When Art Basel first came to Miami in 2002, it was a satellite art fair and an end-of-the-year anchor to the Basel, Switzerland main event held in the summer. But in a perfect storm of palm trees, parties, a surge of interest in art (or at least the lucrative art market), and an Instagram explosion, it’s now become the biggest annual art event in North America, attended by some 85,000 people. And as the fair morphs into two dozen satellite fairs and a weeklong full calendar of art and fashion happenings, it’s also a venue to show how the art by a new generation of artists is being made.

Washington Glass School Artists To Show @ Art Basel / Miami Art Fairs!

Art-Basel-Miami-Beach-logoDecember 4 – 10, 2017, Miami and Miami Beach becomes the epicenter of the art world with approximately 1200 art galleries from around the world showing thousands of artists. It’s also a week of fashion with gala openings and after parties. Music, Art & Design all combine with incredible Florida weather – it’s an incredible place for viewing contemporary art.

Washington Glass School artists are being represented in a big way this year, with all of the school’s Directors and the new Studio Coordinator having works being exhibited at the art fairs.

Tim Tate's work will be featured at Habatat Galleries space at both SCOPE art fair and FORM.

Tim Tate’s work will be featured at Habatat Galleries space at both SCOPE art fair and FORM.

Tim Tate and Michael Janis’ work will be shown at Habatat Galleries space at Scope Miami (space F35) and the inaugural show of Form Miami (located across the street from Art Basel at the Miami Beach Convention Center).

CONTEXT Art Miami will feature works by WGS artists Erwin Timmers, Laura Beth Konopinski and WGS alum Audrey Wilson.

CONTEXT Art Miami will feature works by WGS artists Erwin Timmers, Laura Beth Konopinski and WGS alum Audrey Wilson.

Alida Anderson Art Projects’ booth #C225 at Context Art Miami will feature some incredible new sculptural works by WGS Co-Director Erwin Timmers and Studio Coordinator Laura Beth Konopinski. Alum Audrey Wilson will be exhibiting her new body of work that shows the influence of the Kent Sate MFA that she is currently enrolled in.

For an overview of all the contemporary art fairs going on in the Miami/Miami Beach area – click HERE

Erwin Timmers prepares his latest cast glass works for the Miami Art Fairs.

Erwin Timmers prepares his latest cast glass works for the Miami Art Fairs.

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If you are heading to the sunny warm beaches of Miami, FLA, be sure to visit the premier showcase for international contemporary art!

Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art Opens “Mindful” – & Examine Creativity’s Role in Mental Health

The Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) opens “Mindful: Exploring Mental Health through Art”- an exhibit that looks at mental health through the lens of contemporary craft. Mindful features more than 40 works created by 14 contemporary craft artists  – WGS Co-Director Michael Janis’ glass artwork is highlighted in the show that runs January 28 – April 16, 2017.

Other artists include: Edward Eberle, Ian Thomas, Meredith Grimsley, Grace Kubilius, Swoon, Rose Clancy, Jesse Albrecht, Joan Iversen Goswell, Sophia Jung-Am Park, Alison Saar , Jennifer Ling Datchuk, Lyn Godley, and Kaitlyn Evans.

Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art

Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art

The exhibition highlights a variety of techniques and forms that include innovative art expressions rooted in traditional craft materials, as well as art that explores unexpected relationships between craft and painting, sculpture, conceptual, and installation art.

Along with the exhibition MOCA will plan innovative community programming, partnerships and education opportunities. Mindful reaches beyond the museum walls to examine creativity’s role in mental health, resiliency, and compassion.

This exhibition was organized by the Society for Contemporary Craft, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Michael will also be featured in a Virginia MOCA Artist Talk on April 13 – click HERE for details.

Virginia MOCA

Mindful: Exploring Mental Health Through Art

2200 Parks Ave
Virginia Beach, VA 23451

I Want My M* TV! (*= Michael Janis)

WGS' Michael Janis gets mic'd up for a taping of Maryland Public Television (MPT)  "Artworks" taping.

WGS’ Michael Janis gets mic’d up by Jim Bigwood, MPT audio engineer for a taping of Maryland Public Television (MPT) “Artworks” episode while host Rhea Feikin reviews the script.

Maryland Public Television (MPT) will launch the fifth season of Artworks, MPT’s weekly arts series. The lively series is hosted by Rhea Feikin, a cultural icon in her own right. The show features intriguing profiles of established, emerging and experimental artists from across the country working in all creative categories: musicians, performers, visual artists, writers, designers, and artisans.

Michael Janis will be the guest Co-Host on two action-packed episodes – the first airing December 29, 2016 and the second airing January 5th, 2017.

Dutch artist Berndnaut Smilde's monumental rainbow prism  featured on Artworks Episode 513.

Dutch artist Berndnaut Smilde’s monumental rainbow prism featured on MPT’s Artworks: Episode 513.

Artworks: Episode 513

Premiere date: Thursday, December 29, 2016 at 8:30pm on MPT-HD (repeats Sundays at 12:30pm, MPT-2 Sundays at 12pm)

Description: Co-Host Michael Janis, Co-Director, Washington Glass School. Dutch artist Berndnaut Smilde’s monumental rainbow prism; Houston Grand Opera’s lush costumes; Fawzia Khan, surgeon turned sculptor; and pageantry of the Rose Parade meets Downton Abbey on New Year’s Day.

Click HERE to jump to watch online!

 

Washington Post Reviews Michael Janis Solo @ Littleton Gallery

The Washington Post published the following review of Michael Janis’ solo show “Echoes of Leaves and Shadows” being exhibited at the Maurine Littleton Gallery through Oct 15. Art critic Mark Jenkins  describes Michael’s skill as “extraordinary. Jenkins also enthuses that Janis’ glass artwork combines “the stateliness of stained-glass windows with the vivacity of pop art”. Have a read of the full text below:

Michael Janis. "Radiance," 2016, glass, glass powder imagery, steel; on view at Maurine Littleton Gallery. (Michael Janis/Maurine Littleton Gallery)

Michael Janis. “Radiance,” 2016, glass, glass powder imagery, steel; on view at Maurine Littleton Gallery. (Michael Janis/Maurine Littleton Gallery)

By Mark Jenkins October 8, 2016

Michael Janis

If Michael Janis worked with pencil or charcoal, his draftsmanship would be impressive. But the D.C. artist draws photorealist portraits with pulverized glass, placing the powder exactly with tiny tools. Which is extraordinary.

Most of the pieces in “Echoes of Leaves and Shadows,” at Maurine Littleton Gallery, include depictions of pretty young women. These gamines, who might be ballerinas or French New Wave stars, are rendered in granulated black glass fused by heat to clear glass sheets. The pieces aren’t just black-and-clear, though. Janis overlays and underlies patches of translucent colored glass, and often adds such 3-D glass elements as butterflies or flower petals. Aqua and orange are common in this array, among other hues. In one picture, an abstract yellow-green swirl contrasts the subject’s slightly darker green eyes.

Janis employs many variations, slicing faces into three equal parts or contrasting them with panels of textured glass. There are ceramic busts garlanded with glass leaves, and portraits embellished with near-opaque peacock- or dark-blue circles. The latter combine the stateliness of stained-glass windows with the vivacity of pop art — half medieval cathedral, half 1960s Vogue.

Michael Janis: Echoes of Leaves and Shadows On view through Oct. 15 at Maurine Littleton Gallery, 1667 Wisconsin Ave. NW. 202-333-9307. littletongallery.com.

Dr Claudia Rousseau Reviews Michael Janis @ Maurine Littleton Gallery

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Dr Claudia Rousseau – Professor of Art History at Montgomery College – reviews Michael Janis’ Maurine Littleton Gallery exhibit “Echoes of Leaves and Shadows“.

Writing in the the East City Art the renowned critic wrote about his “glass works that cross the line between sculpture (as in relief sculpture) and painting, and which stand out in brilliant color….From both a technical and subjective viewpoint this is a striking show.”

Click HERE to jump to the article online.

WGS’ Michael Janis Wins DC Mayor’s Arts Award!

The Mayor's Arts Awards are presented in a similar manner to Hollywood's Academy Awards.

DC Mayor’s Arts Awards are presented in a similar manner to Hollywood’s Academy Awards.

The Mayor’s Arts Awards are the most prestigious honors conferred by the city of Washington, D.C. on artists, teachers, nonprofit organizations and patrons of the arts and humanities. D.C.’s 31st Annual Awards ceremony was held at the Historic Lincoln Theater this past Thursday, and Washington Glass School Co-Director Michael Janis was awarded the “Excellence in the Arts” honor!

jp.mike.janis.dccah.202creates.mayors_arts_award.glass.#MayorsArtsAwardsDC

Michael Janis onstage at the Historic Lincoln Theatre

The DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities works hard at supporting and advancing the arts, humanities and creative industries and presented the awards as recognition of how the creative community impacts the District.

Michael Janis interviewed at the Lincoln Theatre.

Michael Janis interviewed at the Lincoln Theatre.

The Awards Gala – modeled after Hollywood’s Academy Awards – had it all – the red carpet (but in green), media and press interviews, glamor, gowns, glitter.

DC Mayor Muriel Bowser welcomes the audience to the 31st Mayors Arts Awards.

DC Mayor Muriel Bowser welcomes the audience to the 31st Mayors Arts Awards.

Mayor Muriel Bowser welcomed the audience to the award ceremony and some incredible performances were throughout the evening’s ceremony. In addition to Michael Janis winning the Excellence in the Arts, the winners included Once Common Unity for Excellence in Creative Industries, Leron Boyd for Outstanding Student, Dawn Johnson for Excellence in Teaching and Tara Campbell for Outstanding New Artist. The DCCAH also presented three honors – Lou Stovall, for Lifetime Achievement, Julianne Brienza for Visionary Leadership and   E. Ethelbert Miller for Distinguished Honor.

Washington Performing Arts, Children of the Gospel Choir performed.

Washington Performing Arts, Children of the Gospel Choir performed.

Congratulations on the Award Michael! What will you be doing next?mike_janis.michael.sandra_arkin.dccah.mayors.arts.award

Michael Janis with Kay Kendall, Chair of the Board of Commissioners DCCAH

Michael Janis with Kay Kendall, Chair of the Board of Commissioners DCCAH

Glass Art Remembrances of 9/11

On September 11, 2001, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airplanes. In a coordinated attack, these events forever changed the face of modern-day America. Artists, like all of us, struggled to comprehend the unfathomable destruction and loss of innocent life. They responded the way they knew best – through their art.

Eric Fischl's "Tumbling Woman" Eric Fischl. “Tumbling Woman, Study,” 2012, glass, 12 x 18 x 14 in.

Eric Fischl; “Tumbling Woman, Study,” 2012, glass, 12 x 18 x 14 in.

Artist Eric Fischl‘s somewhat controversial homage to the 9/11 victims, was expressed in his “Tumbling Woman” sculpture series. The awkward, unnatural pose — the woman is on her back, her legs lifted and held together to her left side — is meant to evoke the bodies that leapt from the World Trade Center towers. It’s a powerful, striking, vulnerable visual -particularly in glass – even without knowing the reference. Fischl said he felt an urgent responsibility to address the terrorist attack through his work, for the public, to help people make sense of what had happened. That is what art does at its best, he said, adding he saw his sculpture as “a sincere gesture of expressing the pain and vulnerability. Those feelings were part of the tragedy.”

Michael Janis; "The Tower", 2009, glass, glass powder imagery, steel, 19" x 37"

Michael Janis; “The Tower”, 2009, glass, glass powder imagery, steel, 19 x 37 in. (photo by Pete Duvall)

In a similar tribute theme is Michael Janis’ “The Tower” from his tarot series of glass panels. That piece was selected in 2009 to be part the Corning Museum of Glass‘ (CMOG) ‘New Glass Review’. Tina OldknowCMOG’s curator of modern glass from 2000-2014, and the senior curator of modern and contemporary glass from 2014 until her retirement in September 2015, wrote this commentary on the Janis artwork and how the submissions that year showed a narrative influence. She wrote:

“To introduce my narrative category…(t)he more literal representations included the stories told by Debora Coombs, Ian Mowbray, and especially Michael Janis. … On the other hand, a truly big and dangerous event is depicted in Janis’s “The Tower” Tarot Card. Anyone familiar with the tarot knows that the tower, the 16th card of the major arcana, does not bring glad tidings. I was impressed by Janis’s powerful, sad, and appropriate interpretation of this card as a literal reflection of the tragic events of September 11, 2001.”

On this 15th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, we are reminded that art can document a time and place forever, as it often represents an exploration of the human condition. It’s a memory device that tells a story that is multi-layered, complex and paradoxical. The stories told through art are vulnerable to interpretation and thus keep the moment alive.

Recalling the devastation that came that day is painful for many. Yet we must remember the past, or we deprive ourselves of its lessons for overcoming our present struggles and divisions.

Michael Janis Selected as Finalist in 31st DC Mayor’s Arts Awards

Mayors_Arts_Award.31.DC

The DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities (DCCAH) has selected our Michael Janis as a finalist in the “Excellence in the Arts” category for the 31st Annual Mayor’s Arts Awards. The Mayors Arts Awards are the most prestigious honors conferred by the city on individual artists, teachers, nonprofit organizations, and patrons of the arts.

This year, the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities will present the 31st Annual Mayor’s Arts Awards Thursday, September 22, 2016, 7 pm at the Historic Lincoln Theatre.

Artists and Organizations will be recognized in six categories:

Excellence in the Arts

Excellence in the Humanities

Excellence in Creative Industries

Outstanding Student Award

Excellence in Arts Teaching

Outstanding New Artist

Special Awards will be given to individuals and organizations, recognizing their outstanding support to DC arts, humanities and creative industries.

Everyone is invited to come to the ceremony- 

Mayor Muriel Bowser presents

The 31st Annual Mayor’s Arts Awards

Thursday, September 22, 2016 at 7 pm

Historic Lincoln Theatre

1215 U Street, NW, Washington, DC 20009

Red Carpet Pre-Show 6 pm

Reception 8:30 pm